


All Staying

by completelyhopeless



Series: Bonnie Lives [1]
Category: Gone With the Wind
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Community: comment_fic, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-29
Updated: 2014-11-29
Packaged: 2018-02-27 11:32:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 287
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2691335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/completelyhopeless/pseuds/completelyhopeless
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rhett and Scarlett speak after the Bonnie's near-fatal accident.</p>
            </blockquote>





	All Staying

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Leni](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leni/gifts).



> For the prompt: _[any. any. a character survives (when, in canon, they didn't)](http://comment-fic.livejournal.com/561625.html?thread=79093209#t79093209)_
> 
> I decided to try practicing again when I saw this prompt. I've always wanted to change that moment anyway, though the fallout was harder to figure out than I thought it would be.

* * *

“I want to stay,” Rhett rasped out, voice hoarse. He did not look up from the bed, did not know how to face her. If his daughter were awake, he could not have faced her any more than he could the accusing eyes of her mother. “I _am_ staying.”

“I want to hate you,” Scarlett said. “I want to curse you until the day you die for teaching her to ride. She almost _died._ It was like Pa all over again. I want to hate you.”

“Could you hate me more than I hate myself?” Rhett asked. “What if she never walks again? What if she never wakes? We were lucky, Scarlett. Lucky she didn't die, lucky we still have a chance...”

“Us?” Scarlett snorted. “A chance?”

Rhett shook his head. He wouldn't fight with her over that. Not now. Later, when Bonnie was better and Scarlett had recovered—he rose, rushing over to take hold of her. “You stupid fool. What are you doing on your feet? You should be in your own bed.”

“With my daughter on her deathbed?”

Rhett carried her over to the bed and set her down beside Bonnie. “There. Don't move. We're all staying. Not one of us is leaving, you hear me? Not one.”

“Listen to you. The great Rhett Butler thinks he can order death around.” Though her words were mocking, Scarlett didn't follow through with them. She sat up, turning herself over on the bed so that she could lean over Bonnie, brushing back the little girl's curls. She closed her eyes, her voice in a low whisper, almost a prayer. “Lord, I hope you can. Don't let them take our baby from us. Not again.”

“Never again.”


End file.
